MANILA, Philippines ? The special tribute to Conchita C. Sunico (?Tita Conching? to her friends and supporters) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) on May 18 evoked vivid memories of the legendary lady as the first executive director of the Manila Metropolitan Theater (1978-1986).

Tita Conching?s ties with the Met dated back to the 1940s, during the Japanese Occupation when she was a member of a group called the VSAC (Volunteer Social Aid Committee), whose other members were Helena Benitez, Nenita Barrios (Manzano), Trophy Ocampo, and Pilar Campos.

During the war years, according to a Met account by Nick Tiongson, the VSAC of Tita Conching ran a hospital for the wounded; organized community kitchen for the hungry; managed a secret mail service for Manilans and their relatives imprisoned in Capas, Tarlac, and Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija.

To support their services, the VSACs mounted several opera productions like ?La Traviata? and ?Cavalleria Rusticana? and pageants like ?The Four Seasons? with participants Totoy de Oteyza, Cecile Yulo, Chloe Cruz, Josefina Sabater.

For these fund-raising projects, the VSACs took tranvia (tram) and calesa (horse-drawn carriage) to Divisoria to buy pinukpok and other materials for the costumes designed by Matilde Olmos, known as the best modista (tailor) for European attire at the time.

By and large, Tita Conching became part of the vagaries of fate of the Manila Metropolitan Theater, which was founded in 1931.

The Met suffered its first misfortune in 1945 when the war bombings reduced it to ruins. It was revived in 1978 during the Marcos years, and ?died? again in the ?90s when a new administration took over and considered the landmark the least of its priority.

It was during the ?90s that Tita Conching passed away without a hint that the Met would be revived again at the onset of the new millennium.

Gemma Cruz-Araneta, officer-in-charge of the Manila Tourism and Cultural Affairs and vice chairperson of the Manila Historical and Heritage Commission, says the National Commission for Culture and the Arts received P50 million from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to start the restoration of the Metropolitan Theater.